Day 4 Shift Meaning

My thoughts on today's exercises are that it was very interesting and insightful. I especially liked the TED video with Stefan Sagmeister. I went and looked up the video later after class and read a few comments underneath it. One reviewer noted that a sabbatical seems like a great idea, however, it is not as easy to achieve for the average person due to life's responsibilities. I wish I could take a sabbatical. I've always wanted to travel and still yet have not left the states. Some day though I will get to go to Europe and other exotic parts of the world when I have the time and resources to do so. I truly believe it does give someone a different perspective or outlook on life. So many of us are always in a hurry and get so caught up in the hustle & bustle of life we forget and don't take the time to really appreciate the things around us. Lately, I assimilate myself to parts of a machine, constantly turning in a cognitive manner to get the job done, but am still stuck inside not moving forward. I believe we watched this video not only to encourage ourselves to take a step back or show that a break is beneficial in the creative process, but it also showed how whimsical or different one's creative process can be. One may look at a problem and simply move on from it or create a direct/typical solution or could think of way to alter the emotion or reverse the problem by doing something completely out of the ordinary. Yet those extraordinary solutions are in my opinion, the best and almost ingenious in my eyes. It matters because a lot of us are so used to doing things a certain way, by showing us this video, it allows us to question our regular technique. Everyone has a style, it's fairly prominent in their artwork. But perhaps, we could take a break(not necessarily a year) and them come back fresh with new ideas in mind.

In regards to the other activity we explored with viewing an object from a magazine print and then giving that print a phrase to go with it, I felt a little internal struggle. This activity was a little more difficult for me because I so often want to see things in their literal form. Which is somewhat ironic considering the fact that I'm an art student and should be so used to seeing everything from a much more deeper perspective, it's still not the case. An apple is an apple in my eyes, but not with this scenario. An apple could be a home, a briefcase, a paper weight, etc. The assignment given associated with this activity is definitely going to take some time. I suppose this is what goes on in advertising/marketing companies. Developing a concept for a brand is much harder than I thought. It's often in films that a lightbulb will light up in someone's brain and bam! Epic outcome! I hope that same spark hits me over the weekend so this assignment won't take too long. I believe this exercise matters because if some of us want to go into the advertising/marketing industry this will definitely help. Also, not even just those industries but in any work we decided to do, this definitely aids in our ability of coming up with concepts.

Thanks for listening,
Ruby